SCANDAL! Tommy Wiseau may not have directed The Room

Tommy Wiseau’s The Room from 2003 is rightly remembered as one of the best terrible movies of all time. But what if it turned out that Tommy Wiseau hadn’t really directed it? Would he just be a bad-bad director? A bad-good actor and nothing more? That’s the shocking allegation recently leveled by script supervisor (editor’s note: LOL) Sandy Schklair, who now wants a directorial credit. YOU’RE

In the EW article (which is not online yet) Schklair tells the story of how Wiseau met him in 2002 and asked him to not only be the script supervisor but also to “tell the actors what to do, and yell ‘Action’ and ‘Cut’ and tell the cameraman what shots to get.” Here’s the exchange, according to Schklair:

Whoa, that sounds strangely like an exchange from The Room. Maybe it was more realistic than we thought. I CUT MY EYES OUT BEFORE YOU EVER DIRECT MY FILM, YOU SON OF A BEEEETCH!!! Oh, hi, Suzie. Snapple? Don’t mind if I do.

EW spoke to one of the actors from the film, who chose to remain anonymous:

“The script supervisor ended up sort of directing the movie. Tommy was so busy being an actor that this other guy directed the whole thing.”

According to Schklair, actors would come up to him with the script and a panicked look on their face because it was “unintelligible.” “Please Sandy for the love of God rewrite this so it makes sense,” they would say.

Schklair believes it was him, not Wiseau, who embraced the awfulness of the script and infused it with the level of comedy that is so prevalent in the movie. “Yes we were making the world’s worst movie,” Schklair told EW. “But we knew it at the time. I embraced The Room.” Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Schkalir, he quit the film after a month and remained silent about his role until he finally realized how big it had gotten as a cult classic. [via /Film]

Someone needs to get Tommy Wiseau and James Nguyen together for an Ishtar-style road comedy like YESTERDAY. It would be Ishtar with Asperger’s disease! Plus, there’s the constant conflict over who’s going to grift who first, AND it’s an interracial buddy flick. With delightfully broken English! It’s like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels meets Shanghai Noon! Translated by Babelfish!

People who say The Room is ironically hilarious, and people who tell you that Eminem “has sick flows”: Don’t listen to either of them.

By: The Mutt

02.14.2011 @ 8:40 PM

I once acted in a movie that was produced/written/directed/starring/edited/scored by one guy. Who would have guessed, but he had three different scenes where he was in bed with two naked women. And a scene where he beats up four guys. Thankfully, the movie has never been released.

It was a fun shoot, but lord-a-mercy did it suck.

By: Ragnarok

02.14.2011 @ 10:12 PM

azmo-
I couldn’t tell if that actress was the original Becky, the fake Becky or just an ugly chick.

By: Michelle07

02.15.2011 @ 8:14 AM

Which one is Banksy?

By: Burnsy

02.15.2011 @ 8:38 AM

Even worse, they both charged Uwe Boll $170 to watch it.

By: LaFavre

02.15.2011 @ 8:43 AM

Thanks a lot Spaz. Now, I’m in love with Lisa.

By: Erswi

02.15.2011 @ 9:23 AM

Man, that Lisa chick! The f*ck is wrong with her . . . hair?

By: Moose

02.15.2011 @ 9:23 AM

YOU’RE TEARING ME APART, LISA!

*Blartisized into a Blarticism*

YOU’RE SEARING MY FARTS, PIZZA!

By: Moose

02.15.2011 @ 9:24 AM

*Correction* Dursted into a Blarticism

By: PetePete

02.15.2011 @ 3:57 PM

LOL at your misinterpreted idea of what a script supervisor is.

By: Vince Mancini

02.15.2011 @ 4:06 PM

Since I never defined it, I don’t know what the fuck gave you the idea that I misinterpreted what it was.

By: PetePete

02.15.2011 @ 6:43 PM

Hmm because you laughed at it? What other reason would I need?

By: Moose

02.15.2011 @ 6:48 PM

Slapfight!

By: spazmodic

02.15.2011 @ 6:58 PM

The fuck kind of name is “Sandy Schklair”? Sounds like a beach-related anal infection.

By: Vince Mancini

02.15.2011 @ 8:17 PM

I’m sorry I find the idea of someone being in charge of continuity on a movie already so incomprehensible and bad to be humorous, but if you need that little feeling of superiority you get from knowing something I don’t, far be it from me to deny you of it. I’m sure there are plenty of other things that would fall into that category.

I’m just doing this for that awesome feeling I get where I wonder why I bother responding to comments.

By: spazmodic

02.15.2011 @ 8:39 PM

And yet you rarely respond to direct questions. You, sir, are a sweet mystery wrapped in plaid.